It's already March!

Hey fam,

Oh boy I do enjoy getting your emails. Sounds like not too much has changed. Aguas lindas still isn't very linda (beautiful) but the work is getting better as we go. This week went very well. We found many people and 9 people said they would for sure go to church on Sunday but only 3 went. It's hard to discern sometimes who has real intent and who doesn't. Sometimes it seems like you had the best week you've had teaching, but the people you taught don't end up doing what they said they would. It doesn't get us down though because we know we did what we could. It's just part of the work. Our job is to invite people to act on what we share with them. 

This week we had a missionary zone conference with one other zone. The trainings were very useful this time. They were about asking inspiring questions and about efficient planning. President Gaertner mentioned in his talk a lady from his home ward that always made homemade bread for the sacrament. He used her example to illustrate the nature of real service. It made me miss Mom's homemade bread and reminded me of how service-oriented Mom is. 

It's funny that you said you prayed that I would have a peaceful and restful day on Sunday because my companion was actually sick and we had to stay home. It was actually extremely peaceful and very restful. I am happiest when I'm working, but I was also nice to have a little time to relax and study. I like hearing that sacrament went long because ours almost went short. There aren't many people, first off, but also this ward still has a lot of growing to do. I was called to fill in some of the time, haha. I'm enjoying and feeling more and more comfortable speaking in front of everyone. I'm grateful that I can even learn about things like public speaking while being here.

I wrote in my journal about an experience I had at the dentist but I haven't told you all yet. We arrived at the dentist pretty early last time we went for them to fix my incredibly discommodious tooth (don't worry, it's all good now) so I sat in the waiting room reading the ensign that I finally got...in English!!! finally. While reading I had a very pressing feeling that I should talk to the receptionist. I kept reading but I couldn't get myself to pay attention because I felt that I just had talk to the receptionist. I knew my mind would not let me focus on what I was reading until went to talk to the receptionist. I thought to myself, "How am I going to casually bring up the gospel in this conversation" (which isn't a good way to think anyway, we shouldn't be ashamed, we should talk to people with our first purpose being to share the gospel). I continued to stay seated and felt like a game of pong was being played in my head. And the little ball that goes back and forth kept speeding up. It turned into a pong battle. I then remembered that I actually needed to talk to her because I needed to change the phone number they had on my record. I still couldn't get myself to get up because I know that I needed to give her the plan of salvation pamphlet too. It wasn't just a quite prompting. It was a very consistent feeling and I knew what I needed to do. I could tell she was curious about what we do and I had already wrote our names and number on the pamphlet because I knew that after awhile I would make myself get up and give it to her. I ended up getting up and asking her to change the number on my account. After she changed it she had to attend another person so I went to sit down. I felt like I had failed because I didn't talk to her more. But after she finished attending the other person, she turned to us and asked "What do you two actually do?" I was so glad she asked that question. We then started to talk and I ended up giving her the pamphlet. When I had gone up to change the number on my account I noticed she glanced at my little name tag and that piqued her interest. Sure, she may have asked us what we do and started the conversation even if I didn't talk to her, but even so, I know I was being tested to see if I would get up and attempt. I'm thankful that Heavenly Father has patience with me and is willing to teach me even when I have just barely enough courage. I don't know why in that moment it was more difficult to talk than normal, but I know that the feeling I had was a prompting from the spirit. It's funny that when I went back to reading the ensign, I got to the part in Elder Scott's talk that mentions the joy you receive in answering someone's prayers by following a prompting of the spirit. It's something small, but it taught me a lot and made me grateful for the learning opportunities I receive every time I look for them.

Have an delicious week!

Love and ice cream,

Elder Young